Chinese Immigrant Entrepreneurs Research Articles

The Effects of Cross-border e-Commerce Platforms on Transnational Digital Entrepreneurship

This research examines the important concept of transnational digital entrepreneurship (TDE). The paper integrates the host and home country entrepreneurial ecosystems with the digital ecosystem to the framework of the transnational digital entrepreneurial ecosystem. The authors argue that cross-border e-commerce platforms provide critical foundations in the digital entrepreneurial ecosystem. Entrepreneurs who count on this ecosystem are defined as transnational digital entrepreneurs. Interview data were dissected for the purpose of case studies to make understanding from twelve Chinese immigrant entrepreneurs living in Australia and New Zealand. The results of the data analysis reveal that cross-border entrepreneurs are in actual fact relying on the significant framework of the transnational digital ecosystem. Cross-border e-commerce platforms not only play a bridging role between home and host country ecosystems but provide entrepreneurial capitals as digital ecosystem promised.

Capitalizing on Opportunities during the Covid-19 Pandemic

Abstract This article analyses business transitions among Chinese immigrant entrepreneurs in France during the Covid-19 pandemic. Drawing on a historical overview of the development of ethnic Chinese businesses over the last century and an empirical study carried out in five different industrial sectors (import and export, retail, catering, hotel, and tobacco) of the French economy, we examine what challenges these entrepreneurs have faced during the pandemic, what strategies they have adopted in response to these challenges, and what has enabled them to shift business patterns and commercial practices in this unprecedented situation. Our findings show that the Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated the transition of Chinese immigrant entrepreneurship in France, from offline operations to digital business. However, the pandemic may not be the direct cause of this business transition; rather, it has created unique conditions which facilitate the transition. Before the pandemic, some Chinese entrepreneurs had already made or partially made the transition to “integrating online and offline businesses,” “hiring beyond Chinese ethnic networks,” and “paying attention to the local country’s policy directions,” which helped them greatly reduce the negative impacts of the pandemic. During the pandemic, two unprecedented business opportunities were opened up: “fostering local production” and “seeking low-risk sectors,” which some Chinese entrepreneurs have proactively pursued since April/May 2020. These may be the new trends for Chinese entrepreneurs in France in the future. Theoretically, our study suggests that business transitions among Chinese entrepreneurs in France need to be examined beyond the framework of pure economic rationality, taking into consideration the intersection of new dynamics of Chinese migration into host country and the cross-cultural, cross-institutional, cross-thinking, and cross-border social engagement of the entrepreneurs themselves before, during, and after the pandemic.

The Effects of Cross-Border E-Commerce Platforms on Transnational Digital Entrepreneurship

This research examines the important concept of transnational digital entrepreneurship (TDE). The paper integrates the host and home country entrepreneurial ecosystems with the digital ecosystem to the framework of the transnational digital entrepreneurial ecosystem. The authors argue that cross-border e-commerce platforms provide critical foundations in the digital entrepreneurial ecosystem. Entrepreneurs who count on this ecosystem are defined as transnational digital entrepreneurs. Interview data were dissected for the purpose of case studies to make understanding from twelve Chinese immigrant entrepreneurs living in Australia and New Zealand. The results of the data analysis reveal that cross-border entrepreneurs are in actual fact relying on the significant framework of the transnational digital ecosystem. Cross-border e-commerce platforms not only play a bridging role between home and host country ecosystems but provide entrepreneurial capitals as digital ecosystem promised.

Immigrant Entrepreneurs’ Identity Constructions and Endeavors: Considering Ethnicity and Gender

In this study, we ask: How do immigrant men and women construct entrepreneurial identities at the intersection of ethnicity and gender, and how do these identity constructions interact with entrepreneurial endeavors? We conduct a qualitative study based on interviews with Chinese immigrant entrepreneurs in Canada, and analyze their narratives. The findings show various configurations of ethnicity and gender themes in entrepreneurial identity narratives, and provide a nuanced understanding of how social categories of ethnicity and gender offer interpretive resources that immigrant entrepreneurs appropriate and emplot, resist and efface, or subvert and customize in narratives of entrepreneurial identity. Identity constructions show limits of agency as individuals may be constrained by embodiment of identity markers through which they might come to define themselves. Identity markers can also be interpreted expansively, and can change as entrepreneurial endeavors bring about variations that are then taken up in identity reconstructions. The findings also reveal the ambivalences experienced by immigrant entrepreneurs, and show that these ambivalences may persist over long periods of time. This study contributes to research through inclusion of both men and women immigrant entrepreneurs. Men have hitherto not been a major focus of analysis in gendered identity studies of immigrant entrepreneurs.

Mainland Chinese Immigrant-owned SMEs in Malaysia: Case Studies

This article explores the contributions of—and constraints faced by—small and medium enterprises (SMEs) owned by mainland Chinese immigrant entrepreneurs in Malaysia using qualitative research and primary data gathered from five cases. It was found that Chinese immigrant SMEs make significant contributions to the host economy in terms of employment, diverse products and services, exports, innovation, micro foreign direct investment (FDI) and global linkages. Of these, employment creation and exports appear to be their most important contributions. They face various constraints, some of which are largely the same as those faced by local entrepreneurs. However, they additionally face some specific constraints which local entrepreneurs do not, such as language barrier, lack of financial support in the growth stage, lack of government assistance, and onerous bureaucratic problems, such as tax and visa requirements. The findings suggest that the government should create a special department to formulate tailor-made policies and incentives to support immigrant-owned SMEs, so that their contribution to the future economic development of Malaysia can be further strengthened and monitored.

Elucidating the perceived success of Chinese immigrant entrepreneurs in Thailand

The current literature lacks an in-depth understanding of the new cohort of Chinese immigrant entrepreneurs in Thailand. This new cohort group belongs neither to the first generation of Chinese immigrants nor to later generations of Chinese-Thai. This study, therefore, aimed to explain the definition of the perceived success of this new cohort of Chinese immigrant entrepreneurs and its antecedents. The qualitative semi-structured interviews were employed in the Chinese language with 15 Chinese immigrant entrepreneurs. This study found the perceived success summarises not only the material phases of money, business existence and growth but an aspiration to fulfil the personal objective and contribute to the greater good, which both reinforces and extends to the body of the existing literature. Besides, this study also provides entrepreneurs with practical suggestions by elaborating on how to achieve success based on five contributing factors: entrepreneurial mindset, ethnic community, human capital, financial capital, and customer relationship.

Elucidating the Perceived Success of Chinese Immigrant Entrepreneurs in Thailand

The current literature lacks an in-depth understanding of the new cohort of Chinese immigrant entrepreneurs in Thailand. This new cohort group belongs neither to the first generation of Chinese imm...

Immigrant entrepreneurs and their cross-cultural capabilities: A study of Chinese immigrant entrepreneurs in Australia

The aim of this study is to increase our understanding of immigrant entrepreneurs’ cross-cultural capabilities for international business. Based on 30 interviews with Chinese immigrant entrepreneurs in Australia, we found that cross-cultural capabilities include the capability of psychological adaptation (emotion management and positive mindset) and socio-cultural adaptation (cultural learning, language skills, and bicultural flexibility). A combination of capabilities is necessary for immigrant entrepreneurs to deal with acculturative stress and adapt to the new culture in international business context. Moreover, by leveraging bicultural flexibility, immigrant entrepreneurs create competitive advantage in international markets. We interpret this evidence by using progressive entrepreneurial activity focusing on theory development in the immigrant entrepreneurship context. This study contributes to immigrant entrepreneurship literature by identifying the need to employ a cross-capability lens with regard to the psychological adaptation and socio-cultural adaptation for cross-border business success.

The multiple institutional constraints facing new Chinese immigrant entrepreneurs in Australia

Drawing on insights from the institutional entrepreneurship literature about changes that occur under institutional constraints, in‐depth interviews with 36 new Chinese immigrant entrepreneurs (NCIEs) were conducted in Australia. The findings suggest that NCIEs are not only constrained but also enabled to make changes by the regulatory, normative, and cultural‐cognitive forces across Australia and China, thus leading to different practices and a particular distributional pattern in business activities. This feature distinguishes NCIEs from other segments of ethnic Chinese entrepreneurs. This study provides an explanation for the changing landscape of business activities among NCIEs and also identifies an alternative avenue for changes under institutional constraints. Immigrant entrepreneurs are suggested to not only draw competitive advantages from their cultural origins and ethnic resources but also engage in both the mainstream and international markets. An inclusive and supportive regulatory framework is suggested as a way to facilitate the business growth of immigrant entrepreneurs and revitalize local economies.

Guanxi and risk-taking propensity in Chinese immigrants’ businesses

This paper studies the determinants of the risk-taking propensity in immigrant-owned businesses. The paper has a particular focus on first-generation Chinese immigrants and the effect of the so-called “guanxi”, a specific form of social capital for Chinese communities. The empirical research is based on a survey conducted in 2012 on Chinese immigrant entrepreneurs in Andalusia (Spain). An ordinal logistic regression specification was employed to test the hypotheses. The results show that the Chinese immigrant entrepreneurs with better “guanxi” run businesses with a higher risk-taking propensity. Furthermore, those Chinese immigrant entrepreneurs who have other business owners in their families and undertake business planning and control activities are more prompted to take risks in the management of their companies. The risk-taking propensity of immigrant-owned businesses increases over time starting from the immigrant entrepreneurs’ arrival to Spain. In contrast, the education levels of Chinese entrepreneurs’ bear no significant effect on the risk-taking propensity of their businesses.

Practices in operating a small business in a host community: a social capital perspective of Chinese immigrant entrepreneurship within the South Africa business context

This study explores how Chinese immigrant entrepreneurs who own small retail businesses in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa draw from their social capital to operate their small businesses. The study followed a qualitative research design in which 21 in-depth interviews were conducted. The findings show that the Chinese immigrant entrepreneurs used different forms of social capital to operate their small retail businesses in the host business environment. Drawing from their social capital, the Chinese immigrant entrepreneurs were able to respond to opportunities and challenges in the host business environment. Social capital embedded in relationships and networks between the Chinese immigrant entrepreneurs and different stakeholders was central to the operations of the small retail businesses.

Practices in operating a small business in a host community: a social capital perspective of Chinese immigrant entrepreneurship within the South African business context

This study explores how Chinese immigrant entrepreneurs who own small retail businesses in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa draw from their social capital to operate their small businesses. The study followed a qualitative research design in which 21 in-depth interviews were conducted. The findings show that the Chinese immigrant entrepreneurs used different forms of social capital to operate their small retail businesses in the host business environment. Drawing from their social capital, the Chinese immigrant entrepreneurs were able to respond to opportunities and challenges in the host business environment. Social capital embedded in relationships and networks between the Chinese immigrant entrepreneurs and different stakeholders was central to the operations of the small retail businesses.

Communication channels in the host community market adopted by Chinese immigrant entrepreneurs

Orientation: There is a growing prevalence of entrepreneurial activity by immigrant entrepreneurs in different sectors of various economies across the world. Immigrant entrepreneurs seek to identify opportunities to grow and sustain their businesses in hostile business markets. Immigrant entrepreneurs use an array of channels of communication to gain insight of the opportunities in the market.Research purpose: The study sought to investigate the communication channels used by Chinese immigrant entrepreneurs to identify opportunities in the host community market.Motivation for the study: The study was undertaken given the dearth of research on the role of communication channels in enabling the identification of opportunities by immigrant entrepreneurs.Research design, approach and method: A qualitative research design was adopted in which purposive and snowball sampling were adopted. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 21 Chinese immigrant entrepreneurs operating small businesses in the South African context.Main findings: The results indicate that the immigrant entrepreneurs identified opportunities in the business environment through establishing channels of communication that manifested as networks with family members, customers, local employees and competitors. Building relationships through networks was key for the process of identifying opportunities.Practical/managerial implications: The study provides evidence that information about opportunities in the market is identified through dynamic channels of communication characterised by networks with different stakeholders.Contribution/value-add: Communication channels are pivotal in enabling the identification of opportunities in the business environment. Immigrant entrepreneurs actively create and sustain their relationships with various stakeholders in the business environment to be able to identify opportunities in the business environment.

Break-out strategies of Chinese immigrant entrepreneurs in Australia

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine how Chinese immigrant businesses in Australia were able to shift from low return start-up businesses and move to more competitive business models targeting mainstream clientele. The research aims to identify the factors enabling a break-out strategy for these entrepreneurs and whether a horizontal or vertical break-out was achieved.Design/methodology/approachA qualitative research method with in-depth interviews is employed. Interviews were conducted with 55 Chinese immigrant business owners in Sydney and Canberra.FindingsThe analysis found that a break-out strategy depended on a range of business activities, including innovation, marketing, networking and personnel strategies. Importantly, the current research found that these resources have varying degrees of importance in the different stages of the transition to the new business model. Accumulating sufficient financial capital was a fundamental enabler for a break-out strategy, followed by the capacity to learn and benefit from the experience of social networks.Research limitations/implicationsThe current research highlights the importance of financial capital and capacity to benefit from social networks as fundamental factors in enabling a break-out strategy. The benefit of the qualitative approach in obtaining rich data needs to be offset by potential limitations on generalisability. Future research could incorporate comparison between different size businesses as well as analysing factors underpinning a failure to successfully implement a break-out.Practical implicationsThe findings indicate that business support groups and policymakers could review access to financial capital for entrepreneurs seeking break-outs, consider improving opportunities for developing capacity to utilise heterogeneous social networks, and consider pathways for improving skills acquisition amongst immigrant entrepreneurs.Originality/valueThis paper contributes to the research literature on break-out strategies used by immigrant entrepreneurs by analysing, in detail, the transition steps undertaken by ethnic Chinese entrepreneurs in the shift to more competitive business models.

Managing the Yin and Yang of family capital: a study of Chinese immigrant entrepreneurs

Family capital can provide positive resources for entrepreneurship; however, it can also bring negative consequences that hinder the growth of a new venture. We investigated how entrepreneurs experienced and managed the positives and negatives of family capital through in-depth semi-structured interviews with Chinese immigrants who landed in Canada between 2000 and 2014. We contribute to the entrepreneurship literature by highlighting the paradoxical nature of family capital, and by identifying five strategies that entrepreneurs employed to manage the paradox.

A Test of the Relationship between Cultural Diversity and Entrepreneur’s Innovation: Chinese Immigrant Entrepreneurs In Italy

A Test of the Relationship between Cultural Diversity and Entrepreneur’s Innovation: Chinese Immigrant Entrepreneurs In Italy

Traversing between transnationalism and integration: Dual embeddedness of new Chinese immigrant entrepreneurs in Singapore

Transnationalism was initially proposed as an alternative perspective to the assimilation and integration frameworks, which tend to prioritize the nation-state over transnational mobility. Policy-makers in host societies usually regard transnational migrants’ close linkages with the homeland as a sign of social and political detachment, thus reducing their contributions to the host land. Findings from our research on Chinese new immigrant entrepreneurs in Singapore suggest the simultaneous embeddedness of immigrants into two or more nation-states and geopolitical spheres. However, integration in Singapore and transnational ties with China are not necessarily a zero-sum game. Our evidence suggests that transnationalism and integration have been construed as a mutually reinforcing strategy in new immigrants’ efforts to accumulate economic and social resources in both the host land and the homeland. The formations, characteristics and mechanisms of the dual embeddedness process of new Chinese immigrant entrepreneurs in Singapore are detailed in the article.

Mediatizing the network model of cultural capital: Network diversity, media use, and cultural knowledge along and across ethnic boundaries

Existing studies have paid limited attention to how media use and network diversity are related to cultural capital along or across ethnic boundaries. Extending the network model to a mediated network model of cultural capital, this research examines cultural knowledge as a function of media use and network diversity and whether media use moderates or mediates the relationship between network diversity and cultural knowledge. Data were drawn from a random sample survey on Chinese immigrant entrepreneurs in Toronto. Results showed that media use was a stronger predictor of cultural knowledge than network diversity. It also moderated and mediated the relationship between network diversity and cultural knowledge along and across ethnic boundaries.

Chinese immigrant entrepreneurs’ involvement in internationalization and innovation: Three Canadian cases

In international entrepreneurship literature, entrepreneurs moving across borders have received less attention than other entrepreneurs. Also, only scant attention has been paid to immigrant entrepreneurs’ contributions to their organizations. This paper aims to contribute to the emerging international immigrant entrepreneurship literature by studying Chinese immigrant entrepreneurs’ roles in their firms’ international and innovative activities in Canada, China, and other countries. It is based on three cases of Chinese entrepreneurs who established businesses in Canada. We conclude that these immigrants’ experience of doing business in China and Canada, their network relationships and knowledge of these markets quickened their firms’ internationalization considerably. Moreover, these firms became active in product or service innovation as the case immigrants also involved other immigrants and locals. Consequently, immigrant entrepreneurs should actively use their connections both in their new country of residence and also in their previous home country, but to become even more successful, they should also reach beyond their ethnic ties.

Chinese female immigrant entrepreneurs in New Zealand: two brief case studies

With an increasing mobility of populations, particularly through globalisation and international migration, there has been a growth of immigrant entrepreneurs in host countries, including a minority group of female immigrant entrepreneurs. This latter group has not been adequately investigated, even though these female immigrant entrepreneurs contribute significantly to the economy of the host country. This article explores female immigrant entrepreneurship in Aotearoa New Zealand and provides two brief case studies of Chinese immigrant women who have set up their own businesses.